Things which make me think of Middle-Earth?
Really, anywhere which has a mystical or weird atmosphere makes me think of Middle Earth. The Lambourn Downs on a misty day, especially when the racehorses are out exercising. Stanton Moor and Eyam Moor in Debyshire, The Merry Maidens and Chysauster iron age village in Cornwall. St Michael's Mount. The big old oak tree in Sherwood Forest. Minack Theatre, which is carved out of a cliff, makes me think of Gondor. Standing on the cliffs at the Mull of Galloway and seeing the Isle of Man and Ireland rising from the mists makes me think I am seeing Numenor with the undying lands in the far distance.
My father's orchard, surrounded by willow and hawthorn, with the handmade willow gate was like The Shire. You could sit on the gate and look across the fields at the wild flowers and horses during the day, and after a summer rain storm the earth used to steam. Alas, someone else lives there now and they ripped up all the trees.
Steelworks make me think of Mordor, but thrillingly so.
Some peculiar things which make me think of Middle Earth include the smell of canvas, as I used to read LOTR hiding behind piles of old canvas-seated chairs at school. Also crackly, hissing AM radios, as I used to listen with my earphones on late at night while I read. And the eerie sound of sheep at night time.
Good beer. The smell of pipe smoke. Putting up Christmas decorations. Lighting the fire. Bone-chillingly cold evenings. Hot days lounging around on clifftops, watching the waves roll in. Bees. Bluebell woods.
